#5038 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
Purple Sea Fan
Gorgonia ventalina
🪼 Jellyfish, starfish, worms & co 📍 outside Europe
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © terence zahner · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © James St. John · CC BY 4.0
- 3. © Sean Nash · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 4. © terence zahner · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble · CC BY 4.0
- 6. © Leonardo Bravo · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © Jenn Megyesi · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Jenn Megyesi · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © wendtgower · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Gorgonia ventalina , the purple sea fan , is a species of sea fan, an octocoral in the family Anthothelidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 5,212 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Purple Sea Fan
- scientific name
- Gorgonia ventalina
- class
- Anthozoa
- order
- Malacalcyonacea
- family
- Gorgoniidae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 5,212
- GBIF records in NL
- 1
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 120130, Wikidata Q3329148, GBIF 5185376, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.